Nutrition in the Food Industry

Kate

Halliwell,

Council Member for Industry

The importance of qualified nutritionists and dietitians working in the food industry has never been more important. As the Nutrition Society’s Council member for the Food Industry, it is something I feel passionately about.

Looking across the supply chain, from growers to manufacturers to retailers and restaurants, we feed Britain. It is vital there are people who are working within companies who understand the science of nutrition, who can apply this to food and who have the skills and expertise to translate policy into practical action. I became a Council member at the Nutrition Society about three years ago, but I’ve been involved with the Society since being an MSc Student at Surrey.

As a mature student, having studied biochemistry years before my Masters, the Society helped me navigate the new world of nutrition science. The Society textbooks, a new innovation at the time, helped me grasp the basics and the journals were always a first point of call for high quality papers.

In my role now, I sometimes say I belong to the Society because I want to remember that many years ago I was a scientist. I’m only half joking. My role in industry is policy focused. Although there are food industry scientists who still undertake research, many nutritionists focus on translating policy and regulation into food production, working alongside food technologists.

This means company nutritionists have to be able to understand the developing science but are not necessarily experts in one area. They need to make decisions based on science but also the practicalities of the real world, where undoubtedly things start to get a little messy.

WHAT DOES AN INDUSTRY NUTRITIONIST DO?

Meg Longworth, won the Food and Drink Federation’s 2019 award for Registered Nutritionist/Dietitian working in industry which was sponsored by the Nutrition Society. Meg is Head of Nutrition and Public Health for Chartwells, the largest education foodservice provider in the UK. Meg’s achievements show how wide and varied an industry nutritionist’s role is.

Her role sees her working with food development teams to ensure menus meet nutrient needs, an example of which would be in reducing the amount of sugar in desserts by 20% since 2016, subsequently exceeding PHE’s targets. This was achieved through partnership with development chefs, schools, pupils, families and Regional Public Health Teams to create recipes the children will still love; by reformulating, reducing portion size, or simply adding more fruit.

For example, should you fortify food with vitamin D? If so D2 or D3? What about if your product would otherwise be vegan?

Having a Society to turn to that provides high quality conferences and research can help company nutritionists ensure their knowledge remains up to data and credible. This year’s launch of the Nutrition Society Training Academy (NSTA) goes one step further; providing the opportunity to listen to world experts give one hour webinars on a topic is proving invaluable.

As the Council Member for Industry, I see it as my role to keep the Society up to date on areas of interest for the food industry and suggest how it can best disseminate information to a key group who are not academics. I also encourage industry nutritionists to join the Society. Keeping the food industry engaged and up-to-date is an important role for us all.

But Meg’s role goes well beyond producing healthier food, she has also introduced innovative programmes that help to educate children about food. These include Nudge Nudge (using subtle nudges to influence healthier food choices) and Beyond the Chartwells Kitchen (a programme of nutrition education delivered through fun and engaging workshops and classroom activities).

The FDF Awards for 2020 are now open, and The Nutrition Society will once again be supporting industry nutritionists with free membership for the winner. See www.fdf.org.uk